Tag Archives: Shankaracharya

Shri TN Seshan had gone to meet Paramacharya in the early 90s, after he was transferred from the post of Home Secretary to the post of Chief Election Commissioner – considered a sinecure among Indian civil servants in early 90s.

Paramacharya, who was 97 when a visibly disappointed Seshan came to meet Him, immediately sensed the cause of his disappointment and counseled him to treat the transfer as an opportunity granted by God to serve the Indian public. He had suggested that Seshan visit the Uthiramerur temple (~15 kms from Kanchi Sri Matam) and read through the details of electoral regulations prevalent in India about 1000 years ago, including qualifications of candidates that can contest elections.

In the words of Mr. Seshan, ‘The credit for Electoral reforms must go to Kanchi Mahaswami, but for who this would not have been possible. At 97, He had such clarity and described minute details of the electoral rules embossed on the northern walls of the Uthiramerur temple. And mentioned to me that even implementing a tenth of these reforms, would be a great service to India”.

The rest as we know is history. An inspired and reinvigorated Seshan went back to reform the Indian electoral system, ultimately resulting in the coinage – ‘Seshan vs Nation’3 A key takeaway for all next-gen managers from our Guru, is to develop a historical perspective in our respective fields of endeavor both to avoid repeating mistakes and to stay inspired.

Ancient records say that Adi Shankaracharya lived and meditated on this hill. For centuries, the hill has been known as the Shankaracharya Hill. However, the information plaques have suddenly been changed to read as Takht -e-Suleiman Or ” Throne of Solomon “.

The Points that Pujya Shankaracharya made at the inter-faith dialogue and was made into a press statement.

1.Exactly one month ago to the date, the Pope went to Jerusalem where Jesus was born, for a similar dialogue that the Vatican had undertaken with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. At the end of that meeting when the Pope and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzer jointly addressed the Press and Media, the Chief Rabbi thanked the Pope for assuring the Chief Rabbinate that the Catholic Church would desist and cease from all missionary and conversion activities among the Jews. This is construed as endorsed and agreed by the Pope since he was present at the press meet. We need a similar commitment from the Church for Hindus.

2. After such inter-faith meetings, the points agreed have to be faithfully abided. Otherwise there will be no point in holding such meetings. Unless the Church reassures Hindus that it will not conduct itself in a manner that wounds Hindu sensibilities and follows up on those assurances, such inter-faith meetings, no matter how frequently they are held, will be futile and not serve any meaningful cause.

3. In 1999, Pope Johan Paul II had stated that the mission of the Vatican was to plant the Cross in Asia in the third millennium to facilitate the Christianizing of the world, which alone would cause the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Pope must tell us the rationale for the First Coming of Jesus Christ when there was no Christianity or the Church to undertake the mission to Christianize the world.

4. We see the USCIRF (US Commission on International Religious Freedom) as an intrusive mechanism of a foreign government to interfere in the internal affairs of this country. The USCIRF, which has been permitted to visit this country to hold meetings with our people to ascertain religious freedom in our country, must no longer be permitted to enter this country on this intrusive mission. We will not allow external interference into our internal affairs.

5. We know that very large amounts of money come into this country for Churches and Christian groups, ostensibly for charitable work. These funds should be used only for social causes like health, education etc and should not be used for religious conversion. During these dialogues, it should be agreed that the funds should be distributed to all Organisations who do charitable work, irrespective of the organisations’ religious faith. A common pool should be created and a Committee formed to distribute and monitor the usage of these funds.
6. It has become easy for the Missionaries to convert Hindus. All Hindu Organisations and Associations should work together to educate Hindus and eradicate the conversion activity.

7. Hindu dharma is by nature diverse and so all different panthas and sampradayas co-exist on this bhumi without seeking to destroy the others. Hindu dharma has nurtured and supported all faiths and religions because that is the way of dharma. We expect that religions which have come into this bhumi from other lands will respect this vital characteristic of Hindu dharma and not do anything to subvert or disturb the sense of nationhood of this country. Hindu dharma and the Hindu people welcome Christians and Muslims, Parsis and Jews to make this land their home. We expect from these religions that they will not seek to destroy our faith, our religion and wound our religious sensibilities. We encourage all religions to live with mutual respect and harmony in a shared sense of nationalism which should bind us all as one nation. Nationalism should come first.

8. We are aware of the propaganda that they [the church] will cure diseases and ailments if the individual converts to their faith. This is illegal as per the DRUGS AND MAGIC REMEDIES ACT 1954 and we call upon the Indian government to take action under the provision of law.

9. Most of the countries in the world (USA, UK, Japan, Middle-east nations, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc.), adopt national resolutions and statements of intent proclaimed by their governments and their tallest religious bodies, affirming their determination to protect and defend the culture and the religion from which their cultures derive. In India alone we pass resolutions which officially and legally promote an irreligious and unspiritual creed called secularism. Secularism is an administrative quality; it cannot be the soul of this nation. The soul of this nation is religious and spiritual. We call upon our government and other important religious bodies to recognize this truth and affirm their commitment to protect the soul of this nation.

10. The Buddhist Mahasangha and the Joint Committee of Buddhist Organizations have declared their intention to get the Sri Lankan government to pilot and pass a national anti-conversion Bill and make it law. We welcome this move and strongly endorse this measure.

11. The Church in India must stop forthwith the use of Hindu religious words, phrases and symbols like Veda, Agama, Rishi, Ashrama, Om and other such in what is referred to as ‘inculturation’ tactics, but which are only intended to deceive the vulnerable sections of our people who are the intended targets for religious conversion. This is also insulting to and wounding the religious sensitivities of Hindus. Similarly it has been brought to our notice that some churches are scripting a new Bible for the new converts by usurping sections of our sacred Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas and incorporating them into the Bible. This must stop immediately and all such Bibles must be withdrawn from circulation. We urge the Indian government to look into the issue and do the needful.

Mumbai: An inter-faith interaction between Hindu and Catholic religious leaders, held at Mumbai’s Shanmukhananda Hall on Friday, appears to have focused a lot of time on the issue of conversions and the killings at Kandhamal in Orissa last year.

While the Hindu side was represented, among others, by the Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Jayendra Saraswati, and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Christian side was represented by Mumbai Archbishop Cardinal Oswald Gracias, and Cardinal Jean Louis P Tauran, the Pope’s representative from the Vatican.

According to sources, the Vatican representative wanted to know why Christians were facing violence when India was supposed to be a tolerant country. The Sankaracharya reportedly sought an assurance that conversion activities would be stopped, and referred to the assurances sought by Jewish rabbis last month from the Pope.
The Vatican did not comment on the aspect of stopping conversions, but pointed out that there were many Protestant groups doing conversions, and the Catholic Church had no control over that.

The Sankaracharya, who spoke softly in Hindi, said the meeting can be considered useful if the points agreed are faithfully followed. “Unless the church reassures Hindus that it will not conduct itself in a manner that wounds Hindu sensibilities and follows up on those assurances, such inter-faith meetings, no matter how frequently held, will be futile and not serve any meaningful cause,” he added.

“Although conversion is a personal choice, I want to endorse that there will be no forced conversions. It has no meaning, and is considered invalid. The Catholic Church is totally against forced conversions. The Vatican documents are clear about that,” said Cardinal Gracias.

At an impromptu news briefing after the dialogue, it was announced that the two religious groups would work together, where possible, in charity and social work.

The Sankaracharya noted that “very large amounts of money come into this country for churches and Christian groups, ostensibly for charity work. These funds should be used only for social causes like health and education. Similarly, Hindu temples and Hindus will share their resources,” he said.

The Sankaracharya said he wanted India to be a spiritual country. “We should take moral lessons from each religion and educate our children.” To which Cardinal Gracias responded: “Our country is spiritual and we must continue to deepen the spirituality of our people. Moral lessons should be included in the school syllabus, to help make better human beings,” said Cardinal Gracias.

Among the other Hindu leaders who attended the dialogue were Swami Chidananda Saraswati of Uttaranchal, Swami Vishveshwarananda Giri Maharaj of Mumbai, Swami Nikhileshwarananda of Vadodara, the Prajapita of Brahmakumaris from Rajasthan, and Chaturvedi Swami of Chennai.

The Catholic side was represented, apart from Cardinal Gracias and Cardinal Tauran, by Archbishop Quintana of the Vatican Nunciature in Delhi, Cardinal Topno of Ranchi, Archbishop Gali Bali of Guntur, Archbishop Felix Machado of Nashik, and Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune.

Cardinal Tauran had this to say: “India is a cradle of many religions. What impresses me is that Indians are open minded and tolerant with positive values. We know this inter-faith meeting will have a positive outcome. It gives an orientation and a beginning of something.”

The Sankaracharya also said that there should be no interference from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in the internal affairs of the country, including the attacks on Christians in Kandhamal and Gujarat.

“We see the USCIRF as an intrusive mechanism of a foreign government to interfere in the internal affairs of this country. The USCIRF, which has been permitted to hold meetings with our people to ascertain religious freedom in our country, must no longer be permitted to enter this country on this intrusive mission. We will not allow external interference in our internal affairs,” the Sankaracharya asserted.

Cardinal Jean Louis P Tauran, the Pope’s representative from the Vatican. Religious conversion and Kandhamal violence remained the central argument at an inter-faith dialogue between Hindu and Catholic leaders in Mumbai.

The two-day meet at Mumbai’s Shanmukhananda Hall was organised in the wake of recent violence on Christians and the still-paralyzing consequences of the Kandhamal carnage.

The Hindu pontiff, Jayendra Saraswati, pointed ‘conversion’ as the chief reason for the growing violence on minorities. He sought an assurance from the Catholic Church to halt such activities, which the latter has refuted and blamed on Protestants.

“Although conversion is a personal choice, I want to endorse that there will be no forced conversions. It has no meaning, and is considered invalid. The Catholic Church is totally against forced conversions. The Vatican documents are clear about that,” media quoted Cardinal Gracias saying.

At a press conference, religious leaders from both the sides condemned the violence on Christians and even agreed to jointly associate in social work and charity.

A press statement released by Sankaracharya urged churches and Christian groups to use charity funds for social causes like health and education. The Hindu seer apart from conversions also disapproved foreign funds used for running educational and charity projects.

Furthermore, he also objected to the visit of U.S Commission on Religious Freedom to India. “We will not allow external interference in our internal affairs,” he commented.

A senior BJP member and adviser to Mr. LK Advani, Sudheendra Kulkarni, was also present at the meeting. Such events will “pave way for greater understanding,” he said.

The Vatican representative Cardinal Tauran expressed much hope in the inter-faith meeting, which he said, will have a positive outcome.

“India is a cradle of many religions. I am also very impressed that Indians are open minded and tolerant with positive values,” he praise

BHUBANESWAR, 15 JUNE: Emphasising the need to protect India’s tradition, culture and religious values, Sankaracharya of Puri Gobardan Math, Swami Nischalanand Saraswati, blamed the political class for carrying forward a distorted development agenda which is destroying the nation.

It is “vinash” and not “vikas” that is taking place, he observed, while talking to reporters here and insisting that India has turned directionless. He went on to refer to the Ram Setu controversy and the conversions that are taking place.

“Why is it that conversion is deemed not a problem in our neighborhood, be it due to the influence of Pakistan or China?” he questioned, before announcing that the politics of the ‘vote bank’ is squarely responsible for allowing large scale conversion to take place.
The seer went on to express concern over the onslaught on the Hindu religion and culture as well as the attacks on religious leaders. Responding to questions on the recent murder of a head of one of the ashrams in Puri, he said it was “a matter of concern” that the state government is unable to protect sadhus.

“A couple of years ago, I used to take pride in telling people across the country about the safety of Puri. I used to say that even at 2.00 a.m. one could walk around Puri without any fear. But I can’t say the same thing now.”

Answering questions on the suspected links between Maoists and a religious group, the Puri seer said it was for the Chief Minister to spell this out. “Ask the CM, why are you asking me?” demanded the seer, before adding that he was not bothered about threat letters being sent to him.

“The CM should say who killed Laxmanananda Saraswati and who was behind the murder. Laxmanananda was attacked on nine previous occasions and he had escaped, but the tenth attack was committed by trained and armed people. This indicates that somebody had conspired and engaged trained people to eliminate Laxmanananda,” he said.

How Shall We Recover our Lost Intellectual Freedom

Sri Aurobindo says " How shall we recover our lost intellectual freedom? By reversing, for the time being, the process by which we lost it, by liberating our minds in all subjects from the thralldom to authority. The Anglicized ask us to abandon authority, revolt against superstition to have free minds. What they mean is that we should renounce authority of the Vedas for Max Muller, the Monism of Sankara for the Monism of Haeckel, the dogmatisms of Pandits for the dogmatisms of European thinkers, scientists and scholars. Let us break our chains in order to be free, in the name of truth, not in the name of Europe.

Our first necessity, if India is to survive and do her appointed work in the world, is that the youth of India should learn to think, - to think on all subjects, to think independently, fruitfully, going to the heart of things, not stopped by their surface, free of prejudgments, shearing sophism and prejudice asunder as with a sharp sword, smiting down obscurantism of all kinds as with the mace of Bhima…”.